Just hours after being taken into custody and placed in the city jail in Plano, Texas, Quaid Copplio Thomas was pronounced dead. The custodial death report on Mr. Thomas describes the medical cause of death of 50-year-old Quaid Thomas as an event resulting from hypertensive heart disease and the use of multiple central nervous depressant drugs. In addition, alprazolam was present at a potentially toxic level.

A Woman Shares her Experiences of Drug Withdrawals in a Texas Jail

Several years ago, a woman was arrested for a crime she says she had committed in order to support her heroin addiction. She immediately realized that going to jail would mean being cut off from the drug, and she expected that withdrawal symptoms would be excruciating.

Her expectations were not misplaced. After surviving the experience, the woman shared what it was like to be in the Texas jail with no access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Details follow:

• Her first three days were spent in a general booking area of the jail, which was an enclosed area furnished with a communal metal toilet and sparse bunkbeds. There was a large plexiglass veneer on one wall so that the guards could watch them. She shared the space with 15 to 20 other women, some of whom also suffered from withdrawal symptoms. By the end of her first 24 hours in the jail, withdrawal symptoms had set in.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, and this continuing series.

There is no intention on this website of accusing people or institutions of engaging in wrongdoing. The hope in adding posts to this site is that inmates who are now or were previously detained in a Texas county jail will find them to be helpful resources.

–Guest Contributor